Yet the key question is, are the foot soldiers of the Bajrang Dal, VHP, and other malevolent and violent parivar outfits on the ground in the mood to follow their leader? Will they give up on their prime raison d’etre, namely a relentless hatred of the ‘Mussalman’? Is a rethink in air-conditioned Vigyan Bhavan going to be able to stop the gau rakshaks in the fields or are the fine words only a giant PR exercise?
For decades the RSS has chafed at its ‘untouchability’, it still bears the stigma of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination and non-participation in the freedom struggle. Yet today, having streaked to the pinnacle of power in Raisina Hill, the RSS feels politically and socially secure enough to try and co-opt the freedom struggle’s legacy and even reach for glasnost and perestroika.
But Bhagwat’s Gorbachev moment could only be designed for votes and publicity.
Will the RSS rethink the original Hindutva icon Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s formulation of “punyabhumi” and “pitrabhumi,” that Muslims are secondary citizens because their holy lands lie outside India? Will Sangh outfits call off their ‘love jihad’ and ‘ghar wapsi’ campaigns? Will the Sangh accept that the Ram Mandir issue is not a matter of faith but a purely legal dispute? Will the RSS convince its adherents not to force Muslims to sing Vande Mataram? The karta of the parivar has spoken of change, but we still don’t know if family members are willing to listen.
Evidently, the RSS wants its place in the sun. Today the Hindutva parivar’s biggest face is PM Modi, whose persona dwarfs Bhagwat. No wonder the RSS is anxious for its share of media space, not only to assert its importance but also to reposition itself in an election year when coalitions are in the air and political outcomes remain uncertain.
Yet oratory at Vigyan Bhavan is not enough. The real question is, will the RSS manage to pull off a fundamental rethink on all its positions, from religious minorities to Dalits to its views on re-writing history or indeed to its definition of nationhood? And will the parivar masses agree to this call for an ideological overhaul?
Sagarika Ghose
Sagarika Ghose has been a journalist for almost three decades, starting her career with The Times of India, subsequently moving to Outlook magazine and The Indian Express. She has been a primetime news anchor and at present is Consulting Editor, The Times Of India. She is also a political commentator on the news channel ET Now. Ghose is the author of the recently published best selling biography of Indira Gandhi, "Indira, India's Most Powerful Prime Minister." She is also the author of two novels, both published worldwide.
https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatim...lasnost-but-are-sangh-footsoldiers-listening/